Nine months after the "Burschentag" (a traditional student gathering) in 2012, the Thuringian police have now acknowledged the illegality of their operation at the opening rally of the counter-demonstration in Eisenach. The State Police Directorate issued a corresponding statement to the Meiningen Administrative Court.
Even before the start of the demonstration with around 400 participants against the meeting of the German Burschenschaft (student fraternity) on June 2, 2012, in Eisenach, the police cordoned off the site of the opening rally in Eisenach's market square with officers, vehicles, and so-called "Hamburg barriers." Because this had a deterrent effect and thus constituted a blatant infringement of the fundamental right to freedom of assembly, the now 30-year-old organizer of the demonstration filed a lawsuit with the Meiningen Administrative Court on June 7, 2012, to have the measure declared unlawful. The organizer had neither been provided with a sound legal basis for the cordon nor was there a risk assessment justifying the use of barriers. The demonstrators who remained outside the barriers were all peaceful.
“The attempt to harass peaceful participants in a registered protest at the very beginning of the event is, in my experience, unprecedented,” explains Göttingen lawyer Sven Adam, who was present at the time and represents the organizer, regarding the significance of the proceedings. The constitutionally guaranteed right to assemble peacefully and unarmed in the open air also includes free access to the assembly. This access was not guaranteed. The State Police Directorate has now recognized this and is therefore, with good reason, complying with the right to assembly. “It is regrettable, but should legal action be the only way to remind some decision-makers in the police force of the importance of upholding the law, even in the chaotic situation of the fraternity convention, we will have to continue this process and, if necessary, even use expedited proceedings to ensure the guarantee of fundamental rights,” Adam concludes.
For further questions, please contact attorney Adam using the contact details provided.
